According to Doron Katz Asher, her daughters can “remember every little detail” regarding October 7.
How they fled to their sanctuary when they heard sirens and woke up. How the gunfire became closer. How their grandfather hurried out of the bunker when the doors blew open to prevent the Hamas militants from seeing the other people cowering within. How they captured him. How they hoped that by leaving the entrance wide, any assailants would assume the refuge had already been looted and move on. Why was that unsuccessful?
Asher told CNN, “An additional terrorist unit entered and took us as well.”
Before gunmen started the re, Asher, her mother, and her daughters, 2-year-old Aviv, and 5-year-old Raz, were placed onto the back of a tractor along with other captives from the kibbutz. Asher’s mother was shot to death, Aviv was wounded in the knee, and Asher was injured in the back.
After being brought into Gaza, Asher, 34, and her kids were detained in a house and a hospital until being freed in November after a short-term truce between Israel and Hamas.
Asher talked about her nearly 50 days in captivity, the “psychological warfare” she endured, the conditions of her detention, and her feelings of guilt about being freed while many others—including her daughters’ grandfather, Gadi Moses, 79—remain in detention in an exclusive interview with CNN.
Asher and her girls were initially shown around a family’s flat in Gaza. Asher remarked, “My girls were next to me as they stitched my wounds without anesthetic.”
Asher said that she attempted to convince her girls that the threat was ended after learning about the October 7 terror assault, which she referred to as a “war movie.” I informed them that we are now under the protection of good people who will keep an eye out for us until we can go back home,” she continued.
Every hour of the day, the house owner’s children and grandkids kept an eye on the three of them. Although Asher never discovered their identities, she said that he was able to speak with the father since he used to work in Israel and could speak Hebrew.
Asher said she was the target of “psychological warfare,” even though she and her girls suffered no physical injury.
According to Asher, “They didn’t give us much information; they just tried to say that everyone in Israel doesn’t care about us and that Hamas wants to release us.” “That the kibbutz is not our home and that we will not return to live there because it is not our place.”
The sound of fighting outside the Gaza facility, she added, was “how we knew that something was going on to get us back home, to put pressure on Hamas to release us,” but she did not trust them.
After 16 days, Asher and her girls were removed from the flat and sent to Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza, to a “so-called” hospital, according to Asher. Why is it “so-called”?
Since a hospital is “a place that is supposed to take care of people, but Hamas took over and they used it to hide hostages,” Asher explained, its purpose was compromised.
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The militant organization has consistently refuted claims made by the Israeli military that Hamas conceals terrorist infrastructure in and around Gaza’s civilian institutions, including hospitals. According to US claims, Hamas utilized Gaza’s main hospital, Al-Shifa, as a command center and as a location to house hostages. Asher remained silent about her whereabouts.
Asher saw new captives in the hospital complex – the first ones she had interacted with since being transferred to Gaza.
When her kids were ill while being held indoors, she claimed to have gotten some medication, “but it wasn’t enough.”
Asher poured cold water into the washbasin to help Aviv cool off when she developed a fever. She was yelling. They would advise us to remain silent, but I had to find a way to care for the girl since she had a fever. Their stay in the hospital was close to five weeks.
In response to a question about her worst hour, Asher stated, “Surprisingly, it was the day that we were released.”
She was unsure of her whereabouts when they were “smuggled” out of the hospital and placed into a Hamas car. The woman remarked, “The drive through the streets of Gaza was very, very frightening. No one told us that we were getting released.”
Thousands of people, including children and the elderly, were lining the streets, she added, trying to strike the car and bang on its windows. Asher expressed her fear of being lynched.
After a month and a half of my shielding her, this is the first time Raz has ever told me, “Mommy, I’m scared,” Asher said.
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Hamas freed 105 prisoners during the brief cease-fire with Israel that lasted from November 24 to December 1. Videos that captured instances of the hostages being handed over to Red Cross workers sometimes featured Hamas members being courteous to the hostages—holding old women’s hands, for example, or assisting them in getting out of automobiles.
“That’s one huge show,” Asher said. “My daughters and I went barefoot for 50 days until I was freed. They were dressed in short sleeves for November, which made us feel chilly. However, they received shoes and Asher stated, “Hamas members put me in a nice dress,” before being turned over to Red Cross personnel
Asher and her kids were brought to a hospital in Tel Aviv upon their return to Israel, after which they were allowed to leave and go home. According to Asher, her girls went outside to feel the breeze on their skin as soon as possible.
“We didn’t see any light during the whole period. The first thing they did was go outside and play in our garden. That was their first action.
Right now, her family is attempting to go back to a somewhat regular life. But according to Asher, the trauma resurfaces readily.
“One day, they noticed a tractor here and inquired as to whether the bad guys were present. Asher remarked, “I had to tell them no, the tractor doesn’t belong to the evil men.” “The tractor is something we use in the field and construction; it isn’t the thing that hurt you.”
Asher said she had not been able to grieve her mother’s passing. “My entire focus during our captivity was on the girls, as I knew that if I became overwhelmed with sadness, no one would be left to look after them,” she remarked. “I was operating automatically… I’m still
Furthermore, the knowing that others are still in Gaza has clouded the joy she first had upon being freed. According to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, as of December 29, there were 106 captives still in Gaza along with the remains of 23 people who had been murdered.
Gadi Moses, the companion of Asher’s mother, is one of them. Asher stated, “We’re waiting for him; he’s not taking his medication and will be 80 years old.”
A video showing Gadi Moses and another captive, 47-year-old Gadi Katzir, standing in front of the camera and pleading with the Israeli government to negotiate their release was published in December by the Quds Brigades, the military branch of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another Islamist organization active in Gaza. Asher remarked, “We saw him in the video; he got very skinny.”
“I find it incomprehensible what has transpired with my family and the callousness of them.” those who kill victims when they are asleep. Who takes that action? It isn’t human.
The interview was done in Tel Aviv by Bianna Golodryga, while Christian Edwards wrote from London.
